'Return to Parkgate'

I just had to go back to Parkgate having missed the Short-eared Owl-fest on all the good weather days in the last two weeks. The good news is that there were at least four birds still present, possibly more, so they hadn't moved on yet.

The weather today was OK most of the time although as you can see from the shot below, it did rain at times. Tomorrow should be better of course because I'm working. Wednesday and Thursday are not looking good so I might have one last go on Friday to get my close perched shot if the weather looks right, otherwise, that's me done here for the year.

This is the closest I've got to my highly desired 'perch shot'.  A bit too dark and distant, but it's better than having nothing.  Still work to do on this one, methinks.

It was nice to chat with Kevin Evans-Jones, James Arnold, Paul Bennett and Jennifer Petrie whilst I was there too.

I've Finally Made It Into Print

I've finally made it into the March 2019 edition of Birdwatch Magazine with a 'proper' photo.  Previously I've had a Brambling photo used as a backdrop to a double page article and a Desert Wheatear photo in a 'Reader's Letter' which I sent in.

But these are photos published on their own merit so to speak. Simon Warford wrote an article on behalf of the original finder Phil Rhodes about the rare Blyth's Reed Warbler which is currently at Hope Carr Nature Reserve in Leigh and asked if he could use the two photos I took to accompany his piece.  I was only too pleased to say 'yes'.

As a coincidence, Ed Stubbs, the content editor of the magazine also emailed me with the same request, because I'd already uploaded them to the BirdGuides Gallery, and indeed one had gained a 'Notable Photo' award last month.

'Congratulations Martyn Jones your Blyth's Reed warbler photos take up quite a large section in next months Birdguides :)

Thanks to Martin Loftus for posting the above comment on Facebook and alerting me to the fact that they had been published today and for taking these phone shots of the magazine pages - I just need to go out and buy a copy now!

Old Moor RSPB

Paul Pennington, Kevin Forde, David Shallcross, George Pike and I went to Old Moor RSPB in South Yorkshire this week to do a reccy for an upcoming L.O.S. Fieldtrip next week. The weather was great and there was a good variety of birds from woodland and farmland to wildfowl and water birds. We met up with two of the local birders there (Dek Roe and Ian Unwin) who were very friendly and helpful.

Unfortunately none of the three star attractions (Bittern, Bearded Tit and Peregrine) showed up for us but we did have two Green Sandpipers, Water Rail, Kingfisher, Tree Sparrow, Brambling, Pochard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Little Grebes (in abundance), a distant Barn Owl plus all the 'usuals' and a very interesting three-way spat between a Lesser Black-backed, Black-headed and juvenile Great Black-backed Gull. A grand day out as they say with a few decent shots and some record shots below.

Old Moor RSPB has good facilities including a visitors' centre, toilets, cafe, flat paths everywhere, at least six hides and mobility scooters can be hired if needed.

Barn Owls are Flavour of the Month

For some reason Barn Owls have unwittingly become my flavour of the month this February. I've seen them in seven different locations around the UK and got decent photos from three of them. These were taken today at Blacktoft Sands RSPB near Goole. I actually went for Marsh Harriers, but this delightful female Barn Owl provided me with my best shots when it hunted right in front of Singleton Hide this afternoon.

She hunted up down the ditch in front of the hide for five minutes or so, giving us great views in the late afternoon sunshine.

Eventually she caught some prey along with a talon full of grass and took it a nearby tree to eat it.

UPDATE:

 The top photo was given a 'Notable Photo' award on BirdGuides this week.

Parkgate Over High Tide

With the prospect of a high spring tide over 10m I headed off early for Parkgate on the Wirral this morning, as I wanted to get a space easily on the Old Baths car park.  When I arrived, the weather didn't really seem to be conducive to a good tide, with very settled sunny conditions, high pressure and no wind.  All these things are needed to produce a spectacular wildlife event.

 

 

A Trip to South East England - Day 1

Last week Sarah and I went south-east to Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk, where we joined up with the Leigh Ornithology Society on their annual winter field trip.  We started off on Day 1 at Burwell Fen in Cambridgeshire looking mainly for Short-eared Owls and also a Barn Owl.